1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a container for storing and dispensing materials, such as liquids and powders.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Liquids or powders such as cooking oil, baby powder, fingernail polish remover, and jewelry cleaner are often stored in containers which provide for dispensing the liquid into a separate container or onto cloth or cotton balls before use. Thus, there is always the possibility of spillage of the material at some time during the dispensing process. In addition, the prior art containers lack any compartment which provides for the pre-measuring and retaining an amount of material which is dispensed for each particular application.
Accordingly, a number of containers have been previously proposed to eliminate or reduce the spillage which typically results from these prior containers. For example, Duceppe, U.S. Pat. No. 4,282,891, discloses a cylindrical, flat-bottomed container having a removable cover for holding fingernail polish remover. A sponge pad having a centrally-located finger receiving means is disposed within the container. Fingernail polish remover is absorbed by the sponge, so that upon insertion of the finger into the finger receiving hole and rotation of the finger, the inner surface of the finger receiving hole aids in removing fingernail polish from the fingernail This avoids the need for special brushes for removing the fingernail polish. The container, however, has suffered the disadvantage that the fingernail polish remover must be periodically poured into the container to replace that which has been used. Thus, the device is not entirely self-contained and does not completely eliminate the spillage problem.
Zeenni and Duceppe, U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,372 illustrates a container having first and second compartments, with a liquid metering valve dividing the two compartments. The second compartment has squeezable side walls whereby, upon squeezing, an amount of liquid is supplied to the first compartment to fill a liquid absorbing sponge with liquid nail polish remover. However, with the Zeenni/Duceppe container, a separate mechanical device is needed to force material from the second compartment into the first compartment, or the first compartment must have a slit or hole for receiving liquid from the second compartment. Thus, if problems arise with the metering valve, the function of the container is reduced to that of the prior art containers, and the first compartment cannot be used to retain the specific amount of liquid to be dispensed, and the spillage problem continues with the second compartment. Furthermore, since the first compartment must have a hole or slit to receive the valve or liquid directly, it could never serve as a storage compartment to retain a pre-measured amount of material for future use.